Soft Blanket for baby

Babies love soft things. They like the soft texture. I have seen a lot of soft blankets out there, everything from velvet to satin to silk to any kind of soft material you can think of. Call them lovies, softies, snuggies, whatever you decide to call them, babies love them! I decided to make our sweet Emily a soft blanket. It doesn't have any batting in it, it's just simple. I did a chocolate satin and I was going to do a green velore, but I found this soft pink velore with roses embossed in it and it was as if the fabric was calling to me from the rack saying, pick me, pick me! So, I did. ;o) I did a checkered pattern on the front using the pink and brown, the back is all brown satin so both sides are soft and it is bond in the pink velore.

In this photo you can see the colors a little better (the lighting in my family room isn't good, sorry) You can also see a little better the embossed roses on the pink velore. The back is also shown.

I did roses because our baby's middle name is going to be Rose (after her birth mommy who's middle name is also Rose). We are at almost into the single digits till her due date! Today is Sunday and there is 11 days left, tomorrow will be 10 days left, and then we are in the single digits. I know she can be late, but we're hoping the dr. won't let our birth mom go over since she is starting school again with in weeks of giving birth. We'll see though. Our next appt. is her 39 week appt. on Thursday. :D

Quilt for K

I made a quilt for our expectant birth mom K. (She's due in just 2 weeks!! Can't wait for baby Emily to make her arrival!! She is 70% effaced and dialated to a 1. Same as last week, but baby has dropped a little.) We also made a matching one for the baby. (Not my original idea to do matching quilts as a gift. Not sure who's idea it was. But I love it!) I asked her what her favorite colors were and I found out they are pink, purple, orange, blue & green....... yeah............ I thought it would be difficult trying to incorporate all those colors into the quilt, but it actually wasn't. The hardest part was picking the fabric of course. But once I picked those it was easy. I am a basic quilter. I do squares. That's it. I am going to have my mom teach me how to do other styles, but for now, squares it is. I forgot to take a picture of K's quilt before I gave it to her. But her's is the exact same as the baby's with 1 exception. K's squares are 5 inches finished. The baby's quilt has 3.5 inch finished squares. This of course makes the baby's quilt smaller. Anyhow, here is the baby's quilt. My mom, aunt, and a family friend helped me to tie K's, and I tied the baby's.

Each of the colors had 3 different fabrics. Then I found one that had orange, purple and pink to tie them all together. It is bound and tied in purple. The quilt is 11 squares across, and 11 down. I am so thrilled with how it turned out. Here is a close up on the some of the fabrics.

My latest creation

When we first started the adoption process everyone told us not to get too excited because it can take a long time to be chosen. Everyone was right I told myself. Fast forward a few months and here we are officially approved for adoption and I can't help but get excited and start preparing. Yes, we know that it may still be years before we are chosen, but here's the thing, even though we don't yet know our baby's birth parents, and we don't yet know our baby, and we haven't been chosen yet, we still love them all. We love our baby's birth parents and their families. And we love our baby. Already we feel like they are all part of our family. So yes, it may be years before we are chosen (we hope not, but it may be) we want to get excited and start preparing. So far we have a crib, a stroller, a car seat, and some blankets and burp clothes. We are going to start getting other things such as bottles and diapers and such with each shopping trip we make to the grocery store. A pack of diapers one trip and a pack of wipes the next trip, etc. That way when we get the call that we have been chosen, we will be ready. I'm someone who likes to plan ahead. I have no control over when we will be chosen, but I can prepare for when that day comes.

I have been working for the last two weeks on the quilt for the baby's nursery. My mom is working on the rest of the bedding (bumper pads, sheets, etc.). She made my daughter's before she was born so this is kind of carrying on the tradition. I wanted to make the quilt though. I chose a fabric set that has jungle animals and have tried to do coordinating fabrics in yellow or green so that the set will work for a boy or a girl. I hope I have done the job.

I hand quilted around all the animals and leaves and then the borders. I also hand stitched the binding on (well, sort of, I machine stitched the front of it on and the hand stitched the back so that it all has a nice finished edge, hand stitching the front allowed me to have better control over where the back was making it easier to stitch the back on) I love the way the tiger turned out! The quilting around the animals gives them a more dimensional look and actually makes them look a little like stuffed animals.

Why did I choose jungle animals? Because of this stinkin' cute elephant! If you know my husband and I or you have been a blog reader for a while, you know our story about elephants. Just in case you don't know, or may have forgotten here's a shortened version, an elephant never forgets. (it's true, look it up). I woke up one morning shortly before my husband left for basic training in the Army. I had a stuffed elephant that had been placed on my back. My husband then explained to me that an elephant never forgets. And then he said that no matter where he is in this world, no matter how far away he is from me, he will always remember me and be thinking of me and will never forget his love for me. So ever since then elephants have been our thing. This would also be why I make him cards with elephants on them. So when I saw this fabric panel at hobby lobby I had to get it.